Mr. Paul Reid:

I am being very clear. What we were asked to do, targeted by NPHET and overall Government policy, was to develop a capacity for 100,000, which we have done.

We have built up our lab capacity from one lab in the State for the Covid-19, the National Virus Reference Laboratory, NVRL, to 46 labs. We have built capacity across our swabbing centres and across our contact tracers. The determination of volume is a function of the cases being brought forward, what the cases determine of the testing. The HSE are guided by the approach on testing and the recommendations by NPHET based on its information and assessment.